Baby on train etiquette?

[olivebean]

Possibly a silly question, sorry (!), but I've never taken a baby on a train before. It's a short journey (20 mins) by myself with my 13 month old. Can I leave her in her buggy when I get on or will I have to collapse it and sit her on my knee? Just wondering logistically how I'm going to collapse a buggy whilst holding a baby in one arm 🤦🏼‍♀️ so would prefer to leave her in it for the journey. What's the rules/etiquette with this? Thank you!

If it’s a train with toilet carriages there is normally plenty of room in those as they aren’t always seats of 4.

There's normally a carriage with extra space for wheelchairs and buggies. Newer trains will have stickers on the carriage to let you know which one it is (normally one of the ends)

If you tell us which train operator and time of day you'll be travelling, people might be able to give more specific advice OP.

But overall, you'll be fine for 20 mins I'm sure, even if you have to put the baby on a seat to collapse the pushchair (worst case scenario).

I rang LNER about it and they said they don’t book assistance to those with children/buggies, though there would be staff to help at the station. I didn’t want to risk there not being so 😂

Ask staff! Get to the station early, and the staff will gladly help, it's part of keeping trains running on time. (Presuming there are staff there, of course!)

Mine either sits with me or twats about running me ragged round the carriage stays in his pram, depending on his mood. No need to collapse a pram - at least not in London / SE (not sure if other trains are different)

I've been on many train journeys with my DC since he was tiny and I've only rarely had to collapse my buggy. Usually I stood in the corridor or near the toilets. Sometimes I'd get lucky and locate the buggy/wheelchair section on the train, in which case the buggy could fit in the carriage proper and I could sit down.

When baby was tiny (in a bassinet), it was easy because I just took the bassinet off and then collapsed the pram frame, leaving the baby in the bassinet. When the baby was actually in the buggy (not the bassinet) but not crawling, I'd lay the baby on the floor on a blanket or someone would hold them for me while I collapsed the buggy. It is not safe to try to hold the baby with one hand and collapse the buggy with the other in a moving train - you need to be holding onto something while you do it otherwise you and the baby could go flying.

When my baby/toddler was moving about, I'd usually take reins with me and firmly attach the child to a seat using the reins so they were immobilised before collapsing the buggy. On buses especially, it is incredibly unsafe to have a small child rolling around, unsecured, and you risk losing your balance if you're holding the child and collapsing the buggy at the same time. So I'd always secure the child before collapsing the buggy.

Twenty minutes?! This much angst about a twenty minute train journey?

it'll be fine. If you ask, people will help.

Oh, and I’m seven months of extensive public transport travel, I’m yet to ‘have to’ collapse the buggy. If I did, I’d pass DS to someone to hold briefly. It would take seconds.

I have had to lug him up steps but again, often someone will offer to help, and I’ll hold DS and they’ll take the buggy.

it’s no drama, really.

@olivebean I know you didn't, I was just messing with you!

Although, I certainly worked with a few over the years who did sod all but "mill about", one of the reasons I left.

Good luck, it will be fine.

If you’ve got a baby carrier bring that too. If you get stuck baby goes in the carrier and then you 2 hands free for whatever needs to happen with th pram. Also super helpful if they are stairs and no lift and your child’s not walking yet or is asleep.

I had that one op - mine might be an older model! You kick up the middle of the back wheels, then you put your foot on a little pedal and it collapses down, you can guide it with one hand. It's easier if you take the canopy of though.

You will probably not need to collapse though unless it's really busy. Ime people are always willing to help people on and off trains, up and down steps by lifting a buggy.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but when you get off the train, do it backwards. Turn your buggy round to face into the carriage then step off and put the back wheels on the platform first. Don't just try to wheel your buggy off forwards.

Sometimes kind people help you lift the buggy off the train but you can't rely on it.

I get the train all the time. I have never had to remove the kids from the buggy. There is usually space or I stand with the buggy near the doors. It's fine. My biggest issue is going up and down stairs in the stations.

It was absolutely fine! I stood in the part near the door/toilets out of the way. Lots of willing people to help me lift the buggy on and off, too. And even a nice young lad who picked up DD's dummy that she had thrown out of the pram and I hadn't seen 😄

Glad it went well, you'll be more confident next time now.

Glad it went well

Glad it went well! Another one here who’s never had to collapse a buggy on public transport and wouldn’t dream of doing it single handed while holding a child 😄 I live in London and used trains/buses regularly when mine was in a pram/pushchair

My child is now 12 years and I’ve never had to collapse a buggy one handed, obviously he’s not used one for years but I never did throughout his buggy using time

Haha seriously. Its 20 minutes. And surely you can fold the pram yourself whilst handeling your toddler. Weve all done it 😅

It really depends on the train because you can't block access or stay in the place for wheelchairs. Most will have enough space for a stroller.

@Marvellousmadness have you never been apprehensive about something you’ve never done before? If you read the full thread you’ll see she’s already done it and there are several people who’ve never had to fold a buggy while handling a toddler.

Haha seriously. It's resolved. Read the thread 😅

🙄

The baby is 13 months old, sorry if I’m a bit dim but by that age my sons could walk( toddle) and most certainly support themselves standing holding onto a seat while I folded a lightweight buggy…they weren’t using heavier prams by then.
I came on to suggest for a bay to ditch the pram and use a sling instead, or even have pram but put baby into sling while waiting for train, collapse pram and be ready to get on and reverse coming off. But then realised baby too big at 13 months for sling….but really by then my 2 were perfectly capable of standing for a few minutes even clutching my leg for support whilst I collapsed a pram.

my advice is to remove baby form plan on platform and collapse pram at that point and get on train with babe in arm and pram in other…or ask assistance from ano passenger to carry your pram onto train if unmanned station.

appreciate it isn’t easy and best if trains had facilities for prams with babes , however the “baby” in question is quite old and can certainly sit unsupported on a seat for a few seconds whilst mum collapses a buggy.

Good to hear…I think people will always try to help with prams if they’ve been a parent themselves. I was walking past a shop the other day and dad was coming out pushing a pram forward down the shop steps…seemed a bit precarious to me , (partly cos he was doing it one handed with his pasty in the other 🤦‍♀️) I asked if he wanted help so I could lift the pram front down - he was fine ….I’m not the only ex pram user who clocks these difficulties and reacts .